The Crusaders made a game of it for 20 minutes at Cincinnati, holding the Bearcats to 37.5 shooting from the field in the first half. But after ending the first half up by 3, 29-26, UC opened the second half with a 16-3 run and never looked back, cruising to a 77-55 win over HC.

Cincinnati shot 59.3 percent in the second half. Depending on who does the talking, that was either because the Bearcats figured out HC's matchup or simply wore the Crusaders down

From the Cincinnati Enquirer story:

"I think we figured out their defense pretty good in the second half," (James) White said. "You're not used to playing a defense like that. They get you standing around a little bit playing a zone, but it's kind of matched up, kind of odd. We had to get used to it a little bit."

White finished with 19 to lead all scorers.

Ralph Willard had a slightly different take on the second half:

"I think they just wore us down physically," said Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard. "We allowed them to go one-on-one (in the second half). In the first half, we did a good job of denying that."

Kevin Hamilton finished with 13 points and Keith Simmons added 12 for HC. No other Crusader scored more than 7 points. Hamilton, still slowed by a bruised hip, was 4-for-18 from the floor. As a team, HC shot 30.2 percent and turned the ball over 19 times.

It did not help Holy Cross any when 6-11 Tim Clifford picked up two quick fouls, his third and fourth, in a 34-second span early in the second half. Clifford played only 11 minutes before fouling out, leaving an already undermanned HC frontcourt even thinner.
Box score
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Only one game on tap for Patriot Leaguers tonight, Holy Cross at Cincinnati.

Follow the action with the scoreboards and the links below the game capsule. We will check in later this morning after we get back from a Black Friday quest for a discount laptop.

Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo!

HOLY CROSS at Cincinnati, 8 p.m.: Don't be too quick to write this one off for Holy Cross. Cincinnati has never beaten HC, although the last game in the series was played in 1980 and a lot has happened to Bearcats basketball since then. The most recent development, of course, was the departure of Bob Huggins, who arrived in Cincinnati in 1989 and went on to win 74 percent of his games before being forced out by the school's new president. Under Huggins, the Bearcats played in 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments.

His replacement, Andy Kennedy, was a Huggins assistant and has the Bearcats off to a 2-0 start, with wins over Murray State and Illinois State. Cincinnati needed overtime to get past Murray State, the team picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers are ranked 21 in the preseason Mid-Majors poll, so they are no slouch. But if they could play with Cinci on the Bearcats floor, who is to say a team that plays defense like Holy Cross usually does cannot hang, too?

Of course that means HC needs to guard better than it did against Harvard the other night. But what are the odds of a Ralph Willard team letting somebody shoot like that two games in a row? And Cincinnati, while certainly likely to be way more athletic than the Crimson, is not as big up front. Their tallest starter is 6-8. They go 6-6 at both the two and three and 5-11 at the point.

The guy Holy Cross needs to neutralize is the two-man, James White, who is very big (6-7) for a two and presents a real matchup problem for Holy Cross. White is averaging 19.5 points through the Bearcats' first two games.

The Crusaders matchup zone ought to be able to keep a guy like White in check, though. White is a penetrator, more scorer than shooter. He is shooting just 3-11 from three-point range, but has scored 10 of his 39 points thus far from the foul line -- a sign of a guy who likes to go to the hole.

Holy Cross' guards should be quick enough to keep White in front of them and out of the lane. Especially if he can't make them respect his perimeter abilities. The Crusaders also are big enough to force White to dish if he does find a seam off the dribble, especially when Tim Clifford is on the floor.

The big question, though, is, even if they can keep Cincinnati in check, can HC score enough to turn that defensive effort into a W? That might be tough given the size of Holy Cross' guards. Certainly they won't be able to shoot over them. The Crusaders will need to get looks the old fashioned ways with ball movement and screening, working hard every possession. They will need to battle on the boards, especially at their defensive end. They cannot give the Bearcats multiple shots every possession.

All that stuff is hard work. Hard work, especially against bigger, stronger and faster athletes, is tiring. Between injuries and inexperience, Willard cannot count on his bench for a ton of minutes, at least not yet. Mid-majors are always at risk of simply being worn down when they play majors like Cinci.

It will be important for Holy Cross to start strong, and to be within single digits the whole first half. Fall behind early and the fatigue will set in quick. Stay close, or even lead, and adrenaline can do a lot for tired legs.

Willard's teams rarely play poorly back to back. It is possible Holy Cross is not as good as they were expected to be this season. Maybe that Harvard game shows that. The more likely scenario, though, would seem to be that game was a fluke, a simple off night by a banged up basketball team. The Crusaders might not win against Cincinnati, but it will be a shock if they don't play the Bearcats tough.
HC notes | Cincinnati notes | USA Today matchup | Cincinnati Enquirer Bearcats page | Gametracker | HC radio
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Harvard 70, Holy Cross 55: Jen Toland of the Telegram & Gazette writes:

HC's starting guards -- Kevin Hamilton, Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas, who combined to shoot 51 percent in HC's first two games -- were a combined 13 for 42 from the field.

Hamilton was playing hurt, nursing a hip injury. But the Crusaders were brutal from the arc, shooting 4-for-23.

The Crusaders three big men -- starters Alex Vander Baan, Kevin Hyland and reserve Tim Clifford combined for only 16 points.

This is the problem Holy Cross will have on some nights until it develops more of an inside game to compliment its stellar group of guards.

Another problem, uncharacteristic poor defense. Harvard shot 53 percent from the field against the Crusaders.

Could somebody explain to me how the Globe and the Herald could both ignore this game?

Ralph's take on the game

Box score

Cornell 69, Colgate 56: Colgate played without Kendall Chones, who is out with an injury.

Colgate story

Box score

Arkansas Little Rock 61, Navy 57: Mids rally falls short in UALR's new gym, which was bought, by the way, by a Navy alum.

Annapolis Capital

Box score

Wagner 75, American 59: Andre Ingram must have thought he was playing against Bucknell after a 5-for-19 night in AU's loss.

Staten Island Advance

Box score

Lafayette 86, Alvernia 80: Problems with a D3 don't bode well for O'Hanlon's Leopards.

Express-Times story

Box score

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# posted by Hoop Time : 5:46 PM

From Andre Williams' story in the Morning Call on Lehigh's win at Stony Brook:

(Joe) Knight, the Mountain Hawks' top returning scorer, was officially ruled ineligible on Monday by the NCAA until after the fall semester, Lehigh announced in a release following a 58-54 non-league victory over Stony Brook Tuesday night at Stabler Arena.

Knight's return to the court might help fix what ails Lehigh's basketball team, but can anything restore the damage Lehigh's athletic department has done to its credibility?

Forget for a moment the obvious question of what Knight was doing in a Lehigh uniform in the first place and focus on how the matter has been handled by the school. First there was silence. Then a report that Knight was injured. Now, finally, the truth, at least as far as why Knight is out.

But the truth about how Knight came to be at Lehigh in the first place is yet to be discovered.

For those not up to speed on the saga of Juco Joe, here's some background, courtesy Williams' story:

Knight played his first two seasons at High Point University in North Carolina 2001-03, then spent a year focusing strictly on academics at Tarrant Community College in Arlington, Texas, before transferring to Lehigh.

Williams doesn't mention that Knight didn't leave High Point because he didn't like the cafeteria food. He left because of academic problems.

Why a kid from Tennessee chose a community college in Texas, we do not know. The Tarrant Web site mentions internet and distance learning programs; could that be how Knight matriculated?

Whether he was on campus or on the Web, it really makes little difference. The bottom line is Knight went from being in academic trouble at Furniture U., which is not known as the Harvard of the South, to a community college in Texas to Lehigh, which is allegedly one of the top academic institutions in the nation.

In fairness to Knight, we don't know the kid. Maybe he scored 1600 on his boards and chose High Point for the climate, for all we know. Maybe he really does fit the Lehigh scholar-athlete mold. We are all for giving people a chance to redeem themselves after a mistake, so if Knight did not take college seriously his first two years, we believe he deserves a second chance.

We are not so sure that chance should come in the Patriot League, a league that, according to its Web site, "was founded on the principles of admitting athletes who are academically representative of their class."

Maybe there are a lot of Lehigh students who couldn't cut it academically at lesser schools, went to community college and then went on to Lehigh. Maybe that stuff happens all the time.

Maybe Army will win 20 games this season, too.

The problem with the Knight situation is that it gives ammunition to all the scholarship naysayers who worried the schools would sell their academic soul to the basketball devil.

You can bet there's more than a few folks in Easton pointing their fingers at Lehigh and arguing the Mountain Hawks went down to the crossroads and cut a deal.

It hurts the whole league's reputation. After years of the league's presidents being able to go to NCAA meetings to argue that you can do things right. Now they risk seeming self-righteous.

It hurts the image of a Bucknell team, that has made news for being an academic school that does things right in the classroom and on the court. Ditto for the rest of the league's teams. It hurts the image of Lehigh's other players, who will be viewed with skepticism since, after all, if you would do it for one guy to win, why wouldn't you for others?

The league owes it to its student athletes, its schools and its fans to conduct a complete and thorough investigation into the entire situation. Not just the credits in question, but the bigger question of how Knight came to be a Mountain Hawk.
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It was a quiet night in Armory Square.

Between the snow, students leaving for Thanksgiving break and the home team getting spanked by a school most fans had never even heard of before last March, the crowds in the Syracuse bars were non-existent last night.

Inside the Blue Tusk, about a dozen folks huddled near the bar, enjoying the best beer selection in Syracuse. None of them looked as though they had been at the game. None showed much interest in the high def TV screen at the end of the bar. Except for the me, the guy sipping the pint of Flying Dog and watching Sportscenter.

Eventually they showed hightlights of the Bucknell-SU game. But it was a segment on the Denver Nuggets that added some context to the evening. Most of the highlights involved the guy they call “Melo,” former Syracuse player Carmelo Anthony.

You might remember Melo. As a freshman he helped Syracuse win a national title. As a sophomore he, err … uh … well, he never became a sophomore. Anthony left after that national title, having already reached the pinnacle of college hoops. Had he stayed in college to get his degree, he would, come next May, be extremely well qualified for an entry level position in corporate America, earning a fraction of the millions he makes in the NBA.

Obviously there was not a lot of upside to staying in school for Anthony. The downside of his early departure, though, is very evident in this year’s Orangemen team. Watching Melo light up an NBA foe on Sportscenter, it was hard not to think about how good Syracuse might be this season had he stuck around for four years.

So maybe Jim Boeheim can be excused for being less than gracious in defeat last night, preferring to talk about how bad his team is, instead of giving Bucknell its props for pulling off it’s third upset of a Top 20 team in less than a year.

“It’s about our team. It is not about the teams we are playing. We are not playing very well,” Boeheim said.

They were saying the same sort of stuff in Kansas last March. Matter of fact, they kept saying it all summer. Similar thoughts were muttered in Pittsburgh back in January.

“There is a reason nobody respected us in the polls. We are not very good,” said Boeheim.

To Boeheim and Syracuse, no respect means being ranked in the second 10, not the top 10. Imagine how that might have sounded to Bucknell, which returns all five starters and seven of its top eight from a team that beats Saint Joe’s, Pitt and Kansas, all away from home, yet managed only four points in the latest AP poll.

“Bucknell is good, but they won at Rider by 2 points,” said Boeheim, dissing the Broncs and the Nison in the same sentence.

Pat Flannery refused to comment when asked how Syracuse might fare if they played at Rider, too.

Flannery was too busy heaping praise on the Orangemen.

“They are certainly athletic and big. It was the first chance I ever got to watch Gerry McNamara on the floor, other than watching him put on shows in high school. That was real special, to get to see him play in his senior year. They are very good,” said Flannery.

At the same time, Flannery does not need Boeheim to tell him how good his team is.

“We came in here and played a good basketball team and we proved we are a good basketball team,” Flannery said.

“I know I have a nice team . . . You have to be real, and the real part of it is we can play. We can play people. We can do a lot of different things. Our bench has been a real plus for us this year in both games, because we got in foul trouble in both of them. We have the bench. We have some size. We have some kids that can shool. We have a pretty good point guard who is as quick as they come. We have pretty good ingredients.”

They have something else Syracuse does not have – an unbeaten record.
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People noticed Bucknell when they beat Saint Joseph’s and Pittsburgh last season. They threw psuedo awards at them after they knocked off Kansas.

Suddenly they were the next big thing. People in Missouri worshipped them. Voters, other than just John Feinstein, put them on their AP poll ballots. People started making comparisons to schools like Gonzaga.

Then the Bison when they opened the season with a narrow two-point win at Rider, and people started doubting. Maybe last season was a fluke. Maybe the Bison are not as good as projected.

They will doubt no more, though, not after the Bison beat No. 17 Syracuse 74-69 in front of 20,490 stunned fans in the Orangemen’s almost impenetrable fortress on the tundra.

The win was Bucknell’s second over a ranked Big East opponent in the past two seasons, both on the road, and its third over a Top 25 opponent in that span. It was Syracuse’s first non-conference loss in the Carrier Dome since Nov. 26, when the Orange lost to Charlotte. That season, you might recall, ended with Syracuse winning the national title.

Over the last three seasons, the only other teams to win in the Dome were Pittsburgh, UConn and Notre Dame. Syracuse is 356-69 all-time in the dome, 203-13 in non-conference games.

Traditional powers like Kentucky (0-2), Michigan (0-2) UCLA, Michigan State, Purdue, LSU, Marquette (0-2), Louisville (0-2), Missouri, Ohio State and Temple, all have come to the Carrier Dome and gone home without a win.

The Bucknell victory might have shocked the Syracuse fans. It was no surprise to the Bison, who reacted matter-of-factly at the final buzzer. There was no on-court celebration. Little more than a few whops of joy as they headed under the bleachers to their locker room.

“We wanted to act like we did this before,” said Bison captain Kevin Bettencourt, who led all scorers with 20 points. Nine of those came on three-pointers and two more on a layup that put Bucknell ahead for good, 62-60 with 2:47 to play. None of those were any bigger than the seven free throws Bettencourt knocked down (7-for-8) in the final 1:22 when Syracuse started fouling in an effort to extend the game.

“We are a good team. We deserved to win this one,” Bettencourt said.

Indeed they did. This was not decided by some fluke last second shot, or by Syracuse having an off night. This was simply a case of the better team winning. The Bison shot better – 53.2 percent from the field, including a sizzling 14-17 (82.4 percent) in the second half , to Syracuse’s 38.3 percent showing. Bucknell had more assists (19-16) and fewer turnovers (15-16).

Even though the Bison were outrebounded 35-28, most of that margin was a carryover from the first half, when Syracuse took advantage of Bucknell foul trouble to take control of the boards in the last four minutes of the half. Most of that stretch was played with Bucknel’s sophomore power forward Darren Mastropaolo on the bench nursing two personals.

During that four minute stretch, Syracuse went on a 12-3 run, overcoming Bucknell’s 8-point lead to takle a 28-27 edge at the break. Five of those points came from 6-9 Terrence Roberts, all following offensive rebounds. Roberts had 10 rebounds at the intermission, 7 on the offensive glass.

“I didn’t feel bad at halftime. I just felt there was not much we could do, we had a lot of guys sitting down,” Flannery said.

“In the second half, when they made their runs, they made some pretty deep threes, but it seemed to take Roberts out of it a little bit and we were keeping him off the glass.”

Syracuse built its lead to as many as 7 points early in the second half, and was up by that margin when Demetris Nichols hit a three-pointer with 13:02 to play, making it a 47-40 Syracuse lead, bringing the Carrier Dome crowd to its feet.

Bucknell answered with an 8-0 run, going ahead for the first time in the second half on a Charles Lee eight-footer with 10:20 left.

“We have guys that have been around. They never panicked. When they hit some big ones that got the crowd into it, it seemed like we were able to come back and score,” Flannery said.

Over the next four minutes it was a see-saw affair, with neither team able to go up by more than 4 through four lead changes and three ties. Then Bucknell took control. As is the Bison’s custom, it was the defense that made the difference.

First Abe Badmus picked Gerry McNamara’s pocket at the top of the arc and went the other way for a layup to tie the game at 60-60. On Syracuse’s next trip down the floor, the Orange got the ball to 6-11 Darryl Watkins down low. But Watkins was stripped, Chris McNaughton came up with the loose ball and fired an outlet to Bettencourt who went in all alone to give Bucknell a lead it would never lose.

After Badmus drove the lane and dished to McNaughton, who made an old-fashioned three-point play with a layup and a foul shot, giving the Bison a 65-60 lead. From there out it was a free throw shooting contest, and the Bison had no trouble in that department, knocking down 10-of-13 foul shots in the final 1:42.

“We played with a lot of poise tonight,” said Flannery.

Charles Lee finished with 18 points for Bucknell and McNaughton turned in a 15-point, 10 rebounds double-double.

A line just as impressive as any in Bucknell’s box score came next to Badmus’ name. The junior point guard only scored 6 points, but he had 3 assists while turning the ball over only once and finished with four steals.

Not seen in the box score is the job Badmus did on Syracuse standout Gerry McNamara, who finished with 18 points, but had to do yeomans’ work to get them. With Badmus draped across him most of the night, McNamara shot just 6-for-19 from the field (4-13 from three-point range) and turned the ball over 5 times.

“Every point that (McNamara) got, I wanted to make him earn it,” Badmus said.

Nichols led Syracuse with 19 points. Roberts, who had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double in the first half, finished with 12 points and 11 boards.
Box score
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It's a bird. It's a plane ... no, it's Neil Fingleton, all 7-6 of him, back in a Boston Frenzy (ABA) uniform after having been drafted, then unceremoniously dumped, by the Austin Toros of the NBA's development league.

Also on the Frenzy roster is Alexus Foyle, cousin of the only Patriot Leaguer to ever play in the NBA, Colgate's Adonal Foyle.

Neil even has his own internet fan club these days.

There are no stats on the Frenzy's site yet, but you can bet we will be watching.

For those not up to date on the ABA, check out this story from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. In Rochester, over 6,000 fans came out to watch former Holy Cross big man Scot Martzloff and the RazorSharks in their opener. Suffice to say, not many 6,000-fan crowds show up for ABA games. In some cities, that is a season and a half's worth of attendance.

Take for example the Niagara DareDevils, who drew announced crowds of around 200 for each of their first two home games.

They had an excuse, of course:

"The DareDevils will be OK," Rochester Razorsharks CEO Orest Hrywnak said Friday. "They bought a court from a company in Florida and it was destroyed in Hurricane Wilma. They had to rent a court on short notice and it ate up their marketing budget."

Of course many ABA teams avoid that expense by playing in high school gyms, where there already is a floor.
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Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo!

American at Wagner, 7 p.m.: four starters and 10 letterwinners are back from last season's young Seahawks team that won 11 of its last 13 a year ago, including two wins in the NEC Tournament. Picked to finish second in the NEC this time around. Potential matchup of the night: Wagner's 6-2 DeEarnest McLemore, the NEC Defensive Player of the Year, against AU's Andre Ingram, the Patriot League's No. 2 scorer last season.
AU notes | Wagner notes | USA Today matchup | Gametracker | AU Radio

Bucknell at No. 16 Syracuse, 7 p.m.: What began as a neutral court homecoming in Wilkes-Barre for SU's Gerry McNamara has wound up being a dome date with the Orangemen for the Bison, who went 1-1 in the Carrier Dome at the start of last season, losing to Princeton and beating Northern Colorado in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. The way he has played so far this season, McNamara has not exactly been putting on a show, anyhow. The Orange junior is shooting 26 percent from the field, 22 percent from three=point range. Juniors 6-8 Demetrius Nichols (14.3 ppg) and 6-9 Terrence Roberts (13.0 ppg) have been leading the Syracuse offense. The Orange are big, with six guys 6-8 or taller and nobody shorter than 6-2.
BU notes | SU Web site | USA Today matchup | Post-Standard preview | Syracuse.com Orange hoops | BU Radio

Colgate at Cornell, 7 p.m.: After knocking off St. Francis (Pa.) in its opener, Cornell has dropped back-to-back road games against major conference schools -- Syracuse and Penn State. Matchup of the night: How about Cornell's 6-6 all-league senior Lenny Collins against Colgate's 6-7 sophomore Kendall Chones?
Colgate notes | Colgate notes | USA Today matchup | Cornell Daily Sun preview | Ithaca Journal preview | Gametracker | Cornell Radio | Colgate radio

Harvard at Holy Cross, 8:30 p.m.: Harvard seven-footer Brian Cusworth had 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals in the Crimson's opening win over Vermont.

Ralph Willard is back online at Ralph.com and he has a summary of the weekend in Williamsburg and a scouting report on Harvard that includes:

Tuesday night we have our annual battle with Harvard. Coach Sullivan's team has what I feel is the best front court we will face all year with Cusworth and Stehle. Jimmy Goffredo, who we also recruited has really improved at the shooting guard spot and Harvard plays a very good man to man help defense and match-up zone.

HC notes | Harvard Web site | USA Today matchup | HC Radio

Stony Brook at Lehigh, 7 p.m.: Will he play or won't he? The Joe Knight watch continues.
Lehigh notes | Stony Brook notes | USA Today matchup | Stony Brook Radio

Navy at Arkansas-Little Rock, 8 p.m. You don't hear a lot about UALR, but under the radar they have a pretty nice program. The Trojans have won 17 or more in each of the last 12 seasons. Tonight they open a new gym. Navy will have its hands full.
Navy notes | UA-LR notes | USA Today matchup | Navy Radio

Alvernia at Lafayette, 7 p.m.: The D3 from Reading picks up a check; Lafayette picks up a win.
LC site | Alvernia site | USA Today matchup
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Army's on a genuine win streak after coming back from 6-points down late in the second half to knock off what has to be a pitiful VMI team.

Coupled with Friday's win over some school known as Polytechnic, it gives the Black Knights two wins in a row for the first time since they won two at the start of the 2003-04 season. That similarly modest two-game win streak also included a win over a DIII-- Coast Guard Academy.

It was also Army's first road win since 2003.

And they did it with Matt Bell only pitching in 8 points. Jarell Brown was the only Army player in double figures, finishing with 21 points, his last two coming on a layup with 1.9 seconds to go that snapped a 49-49 tie.

Here's the even crazier thing: Army now has a chance to put together a three-game win streak if it can knock off Citadel (1-2) at home on Saturday. It would be Army's first three-game streak since 2001-02, and yes, a DII team was part of that streak, too.

Of course, since the home half of the two-game series with VMI comes after UConn, Columbia and Sacred Heart, odds of the streak reaching past three are slim and none and slim is saddled up.

But that is OK, because after VMI (Dec. 8), New York Maritime sails up the Hudson, giving the Black Knights a chance to have a pair of two-game win streaks in the same season for the first time since 2001-02 when they won two or more in a row three times en route to a 12-16 season, Army's finest season since 1988-89, when they also won 12 games.

If that stuff gets your mind to wondering when Army last had a winning season, it was well before the Patriot League began hoops play -- 1984-85, when they went 16-13. Back to back winning seasons? 1977-78 (19-9) and 1978-79 (14-11) under Mike Krzyzewski, Twenty wins? 1976-77, 20-8, also under Coach K. Those three winning seasons under Krzyzewski broke a string of six straight losing seasons that went back to Bobby Knight's last Army team in 1970-71.

For those of you keeping score at home, that is four winning seasons since 1970. Now you understand why Army gets excited about beating the sea scouts and home model builders club.

VMI game links:

AP story (from Army site)

Box score

Roanoke Times

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# posted by Hoop Time : 7:52 AM

Updating the Princeton-Lehigh game:

It appears Lehigh's cone of silence around the status of Joe Knight has finally been penetrated.

From Corky Blake's Express-Times report on the Lehigh-Princeton game:

Knight has missed the Mountain Hawks' first four games because of a snafu with his academic record as submitted to the NCAA by Lehigh.

On Sunday, Lehigh released the following statement:

"Lehigh has elected to withhold the participation of Joe Knight pending resolution by NCAA staff members of a technical question regarding completed course credits. A formal request for clarification has been submitted by Lehigh and a response is expected soon. However, until that question is resolved, Lehigh has elected not to permit Joe Knight to participate. He remains in good academic standing at Lehigh and is on target to receive his degree in June 2006."

According to Andre Williams story in the Morning Call, Lehigh coach Billy Taylor's only comment was that he hopes the issue is resolved soon.

It might be worth noting that the statement was apparently only released to media at the game. There is still no mention of Knight's absence on the Lehigh Web site.

Blake included an explanation of Knight's history, explaining how he went to High Point two years, then spent a year at a Texas Community College before transferring to Lehigh. For some reason, Williams did not mention the stop in the Lone Star State.

Meanwhile, sans Knight, Lehigh fell to 1-3 after losing 64-54 at home to Princeton.

Matt Szalachowski, a freshman, started in place of Knight. He and senior Mitch Gilfillan kind of split most of Knight's minutes. Together they were nowhere near Knight's production. Their combined line: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 turnovers in a total of 48 minutes.

Kyle Neptune picked up some of the scoring load, finishing with 22. Jose Olivero was 1-for-7 from the field, scored 10 points (8-for-14 FT) while turning it over 5 times and dishing 3 assists.

The incredible shrinking Jason Mgebroff saw his minutes down to 7 in this one. The only non-zeroes in his line: 0-1 shooting and 1 foul.

In Williams' story, Andre indicates Mgebroff's conditioning is the reason he has lost his starting job.

If the game were a blog post, at the bottom of the box it would say something like: 926 fans cared enough to bother coming out. When you figure Bethlehem is an easy drive from Princeton, the Eagles suck and the students don't start break until Wednesday, that is pretty sad.

Maybe all the Lehigh fans were still hungover from Saturday.

Box score

Princeton Web site story

Lehigh Web site story

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# posted by Hoop Time : 10:10 AM

Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo!


ARMY at VMI, 7 p.m. -- Army could get its first DI win of the year and its first over a team not named Navy since the 2003-04 season when they travel to Lexington, Va. to meet the Keydets. It's the season opener for a VMI team that is every bit as size challenged as Army. In their exhibition they started a lineup that was 6-6 and 6-7 upfront, with a 5-10, 6-2, 6-4 backcourt. They do bring 6-9 and 6-8 kids off the bench.
VMI Web site | Army Notes (.pdf) | Gametracker | No Radio
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Box score line of the day? It's actually a line that does not appear next to a name that is also missing in the box from Lehigh's home loss to Princeton.

We are talking, of course, about the absence of Joe Knight from Lehigh's lineup for the fourth game in a row.

Last week two publications reported Knight is out with an injury. Tom Housenick of the Daily Item, one of two guys who wrote that, says he got that via e-mail from the Lehigh folks, who did not specify what kind of injury, how long he might be out, or offer any other details.

Knight's absence has not been addressed on Lehigh's Web site. He was listed as a reserve on the Princeton game notes. According to a post on the Lehigh message board, Knight was on the Lehigh bench in street clothes for the Princeton game.

Rumors are flying on the message boards, but until we can confirm anything, we won't speculate on why he is not playing. We will just point out that it is mighty strange to remain silent about the absence of your best player.

Meanwhile, sans Knight, Lehigh fell to 1-3 after losing 64-54 at home to Princeton.

Matt Szalachowski, a freshman, started in place of Knight. He and senior Mitch Gilfillan kind of split most of Knight's minutes. Together they were nowhere near Knight's production. Their combined line: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 turnovers in a total of 48 minutes.

Kyle Neptune picked up some of the scoring load, finishing with 22. Jose Olivero was 1-for-7 from the field, scored 10 points (8-for-14 FT) while turning it over 5 times and dishing 3 assists.

The incredible shrinking Jason Mgebroff saw his minutes down to 7 in this one. The only non-zeroes in his line: 0-1 shooting and 1 foul.

If the game were a blog post, at the bottom of the box it would say something like: 926 fans cared enough to bother coming out. When you figure Bethlehem is an easy drive from Princeton, the Eagles suck and the students don't start break until Wednesday, that is pretty sad.

Maybe all the Lehigh fans were still hungover from Saturday.

Check back in the morning for more links.

Princeton Web site story

Lehigh Web site story

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# posted by Hoop Time : 12:29 AM

Lafayette (0-2) was no match for Notre Dame, losing 84-66 Sunday afternoon in South Bend. Notre Dame improves to 1-1 in South Bend against Patriot League teams in 2005 (40-4 overall, home and away).

Most telling stat from the box score: How about Notre Dame's 43-29 advantage on the boards.

Most promising line for Lafayette: Freshman point guard Andrew Brown, the Leopards' only frosh to see more than a minute of action, had a plus one in assist-turnover ratio (5A-4TO) and scored 8 points in 34 minutes.

More links in the morning:

Notre Dame Web site story

Lafayette Web site story

AP recap

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# posted by Hoop Time : 12:23 AM

Good morning and ain't it nice to be at home on a Sunday morning. Spread out the paper, brew up some coffee, make the wife breakfast as a way of saying thanks for being understanding when I take off on a two-day sports roadtrip, only half of which is for profit.

Then fire up the computer and get caught up on what happened while you were watching a football game with an almost basketball-like score (except Army is the only team in the league that only scores 33 points and nobody only scores 51 against them).

That tournament at William & Mary was smart scheduling by Ralph Willard. The Crusaders, who the Daily Press astutely referred to as "a very talented Holy Cross team" swept the two-game set, beating Juco Joe Knight's alma mater in the opener, then smoking the host Tribe for the tourney title.

In that final last night, HC built a quick 11-1 and extended it to as many as 23 points in the first half. Talk about your kiss of death. There are teams you can come back on. Their are games were falling behind early, at least the 11-1 opening spurt, can easily be overcome, at least enough to get back in the game, especially at home.

Those game, though, are not games against teams that play defense like Holy Cross. Take a look at the box score and you will see what we mean. William and Mary shot 30 percent for the game. In the first half, when this one was decided, they shot 23 percent from the field.

There are not many teams that can shoot under 40 percent from the field and still blow an opponent out. Holy Cross shot 38 percent and won, on the road, by 12.

That explains why, despite some concerns about the Crusaders frontcourt, most folks pick them to challenge Bucknell for the Patriot League title.

Hamilton (18) and Simmons (16) are averaging a combined 38 points a game in two games. Torey Thomas has stepped up his scoring. He had 20 against High Point, 15 against W&M.

Even if Thomas' average drops by half as the season goes on, you are still looking at just under 50 points per game of offense from that trio. The way Holy Cross plays defense, it does not take a whole lot more offense for them to win.

Granted, the two opponents to date were hardly the most challenging the Crusaders will face. William and Mary does have 10 guys back from last season, including four starters, last season's top two scorers, 76 percent of its scoring and 83 percent of its rebounding.

But William and Mary is not the cream of the Colonial Athletic Association. Matter of fact, they are picked to finish last.

Cupcakes? Yeah, probably. Certainly not Providence or Kansas, teams Willard has opened against in three of his six seasons at HC. But it makes a lot of sense to start this year's Crusaders on some soft food.

With only six players back who contributed last season, Willard knew when he was scheduling that for HC to live up to the potential that comes with a backcourt like the Crusaders have, they are going to need a couple freshmen in the rotation.

Makes perfect sense to start the season with some games that might allow those young players to see some minutes and gain some confidence. Seems doubly wise now with one of those freshmen, Alex Vander Baan, having claimed what everybody expected to be Tim Clifford's spot in the starting lineup.

Vander Baan had mixed results in his first two collegiate games. His debut was sparkling: 11 points, 6 rebounds in 34 minutes. His second game was less impressive. Vander Baan fouled out against W&M, playing only 14 minutes (4 pts, 2 reb.).

The second freshman in what has been essentially an eight-man rotation for Willard is Lawrence Dixon. Dixon played eight minutes Friday, scoring 4 points. Interestingly, when Vander Baan was sitting with foul trouble Saturday, it appears to have been Dixon who picked up the extra minutes, not Clifford.

Dixon's time increased to 19 minutes Saturday (6 pt., 4 reb., 4 fouls), while Clifford actually played 3 minutes less. That despite what, at least on paper, looked to be a Big Purple Dog kind of night Friday, when Clifford made the most of his 19 minutes, grabbing 9 rebounds and blocking 3 shots.

Against W&M, Clifford played only 16 minutes, finishing with 4 rebounds. It would be silly to read too much into two boxscores, especially without having seen him play, but you have to wonder if those lines are evident of Clifford's lack of consistency Willard talked about in the preseason.

It would appear that Willard has settled on an eight-man rotation. Clifford, Dixon and Pat Doherty claimed virtually all the time off the bench in both games. It appears that freshmen Greg McCarthy and Colin Cunningham are not yet ready for prime time. Cunningham never left the bench. McCarthy played less than a minute against W&M after sitting the opener completely. Sophomore guard Kyle Cruze played a minutes against High Point.

Given the wide margin the Crusaders held much of the game against William & Mary, you'd figure if Ralph was planning on using any of those three much down the road, they'd have at least broke a sweat.

Two other things we like about Willard's scheduling the W&M tournament to open the season. It gives HC a chance to play on back-to-back days, something they will have to do in a few weeks in San Juan and something they hope to do at the end of the regular season.

The two-game tournament also makes for a 33 percent longer getaway as a team at the start of the season. Coaches will tell you that a lot of team-building and bonding happens on the road. The extra day away from Worcester can't hurt, especially when you are trying to groom newcomers to play important roles.

READING THE TEA LEAVES:
Seem's like everyone I ran into at the Holy Cross-Bucknell football game Saturday wanted to know the same thing: what did Bucknell's 56-54 escape at Rider on Friday night mean.

Is Rider that good? Is Bucknell overrated? What happened? How could it be so?

Here are some of the answers (as best we can speculate from one game in what is expected to be at least a 30-game season):

Is Rider that good? Too soon to tell, but probably not. They have two outstanding players in Muniz and Thompson, but they are playing a lot of youngsters. Away from Alumni Gym, that will probably take a toll.

So if your question is how much will this win help Bucknell, say at seeding time, it probably will be about neutral. Odds are Rider will be respectable, with double digit wins, maybe even a few games over .500 if they stay healthy and get some breaks. Expect Rider, at the end of the year, to be middle of the RPI pack, not high enough to give you a boost, not low enough to hurt you the way Army does.

Next season, or the season after that? Our guess would be the Broncs' break through and get that NCAA bid that has eluded them twice in the past four seasons when they won the regular season but lost in the league tournament.

While Rider's youth might make it tough to win enough on the rode to contend for the MAAC title this season, the Bronc's Zoo will not be a friendly place for MAAC foes to visit. It would be no surprise if a loss at Rider costs somebody the regular season title.

Rider always wins at home. Or almost. The loss to Bucknell was its first home opener loss in eight games at Alumni Gym (they did lose a "home" opener a couple years back that was played in nearby Trenton at Sovereign Bank Arena -- where a smart scheduler with a little promotional savvy would have put Friday night's sellout). Over the years they have won almost 74 percent of their games at home.

It is a tough place to play, small, loud, the crowd right on the floor. It is sort of like Bucknell's old Davis Gym, minus any sort of architectural charm. Alumni is like one of those metal warehouse buildings you see along the interstate, only smaller and with cement block walls to add a little ambiance. It makes Colgate's Cotterell Court seem luxurious.

Which sort of leads us into the other questions.

Is Bucknell overrated. We don't think so. A close call at a tough place to play like Rider against a very quick, long and athletic team like the Broncs is a negative is like the cup is half-empty version. Except it really does not hold water.

More telling, we think, is how Bucknell won, holding Rider to one field goal in the final six minutes. Knocking down not one, but two three-point range jumpers (Yes, Bettencourt's foot was on the line ... that is why we said "range"), in the final 18 seconds, by two different shooters, too.

Good teams seem to find ways to win, even when they don't play their A game, which Pat Flannery would be quick to tell the Bison did not bring. This team has shown that before, at Yale and Pittsburgh, in home games against Lehigh and Colgate, and, of course, against Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.

Particularly impressive about Bucknell's end game was how they responded when Rider retook the lead on Thompson's free throws with less than 8 seconds to go.

Remember, this came after Bucknell had finally reclaimed the lead on a John Griffin try with 17 seconds left. That seemed to cap a half that started with Bucknell down 5, a lead that seemed elastic. Every time Bucknell pulled close and had a chance to take the lead, Rider seemed to be able to stretch it back out. Up until Griffin's shot, Bucknell had been within 2 points five times in the half and tied three times. On none of those eight opportunities had they managed to go back on top.

Griffin's shot had the makings of a game-winner. But when Thompson managed to gain position down low on McNaughton, and Rider got him the ball, all McNaughton could do was hack Thompson and hope he misses at least one of the two shots. To describe the mood, at least of the Bucknell fans who made up at least a third of the crowd, as anything but deflated would be a lie. Not exactly a boisterous bunch to begin with, the BU fans were stunned and silent.

Would have been easy for a basketball team to respond the same way. Bucknell did not. Need two miracles to win? No problem.

And how clutch was Bettencourt, who redeemed a subpar night with one smooth jumper?

Here is a question to ponder: You are an opposing coach in Tommy Dempsey's situation at the end of the game Friday night. Except now you know one thing Rider's interim head coach did not know at the time. You now know that Bucknell won't hesitate to give the ball to somebody with the game on the line just because they struggled a little in the game.

Who do you design your defense to stop? Lee -- who can knock down the three or beat you off the dribble? McNaughton -- who, forget this three Friday night, has shown the ability to knock down the 10-12 foot jumper and is unstoppable one-on-one down on the blocks? Griffin? Bettencourt?

There are two other factors worth considering when you look at that close BU-Rider score.

Bucknell's last game was in what is now an NBA arena, on national television in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It's next game will be against a nationally ranked, legendary hoops power, Syracuse, in the cavernous Carrier Dome. And this game is against a MAAC team with a bunch of freshmen. A team, by the way, that you handled pretty easily last season.

Pat Flannery has been around a long time. He knew better than to take Rider lightly, especially at Rider. Extra especially when you are carrying a huge bullseye like Bucknell.

But these are teenagers and 20-somethings. No matter how much Flannery told them. No matter how often they repeated the mantra. It would be ridiculous to pretend that at least some of the Bison at least subconsciously took the Broncs at least a little lightly.

Add to the equation the fatal traffic crash that closed the route Bucknell's bus was taking from its hotel in Princeton to the gym in Lawrence. The Bison arrived at Alumni shortly before the scheduled 8 p.m. tip off.

As they walked through an already crowded gym to reach their locker rooms, the Bison players looked as casual as any team walking into the gym. They were a loose, smiling, headphone wearing bunch. Which is the mood you want the team in getting off the bus an hour or two before the game, but hardly the game face you want a half-hour before the tip.

Did that hurt Bucknell's focus in the first half? Nobody would admit it after the game, but hear on Earth, stuff like that usually is a distraction. And it didn't help the Bison's mindset any when early foul trouble forced them out of their rotation.

Whatever the reason, Bucknell was never in synch the first half. That allowed Rider to stay with them early, and when the Broncs closed the half with a 5-0 spurt to take the lead, they went to the locker room brimming with confidence.

Come out fast and take the crowd out of it early, you put a young team like Rider away. Let them, and the crowd, stay in the game, and Riders energy level goes way up.

That last question: How could it be so? That question shows a lack of knowledge of the history here. Someone who knows Bucknell only by the wins over St. Joe's, Pitt and Kansas might not realize that ugly, low-scoring wins are not at all out of character for Pat Flannery teams.

Bucknell wins games with defense and hard work. This one was no exception. By the end of the game, the Bison had worn Rider down. That is Flannery's style to a large extent.

Despite his preseason rhetoric about full four pressure and running the break more, there was none of either in the Rider game. The Bison showed some token man-to-man pressure late, and did pick it up pretty aggressively near midcourt late in the game, but there was no fullcourt trapping stuff like Flannery had spoke of. Neither team scored a fastbreak point.

Sure, Bucknell will have some games this season where they blow somebody out. But the real quality wins will more likely come in typical Flannery style. It might be ugly on the court, but it tends to look pretty fashionable in the wins column.
Read more!

Good morning and ain't it nice to be at home on a Sunday morning. Spread out the paper, brew up some coffee, make the wife breakfast as a way of saying thanks for being understanding when I take off on a two-day sports roadtrip, only half of which is for profit.

Then fire up the computer and get caught up on what happened while you were watching a football game with an almost basketball-like score (except Army is the only team in the league that only scores 33 points and nobody only scores 51 against them).

That tournament at William & Mary was smart scheduling by Ralph Willard. The Crusaders, who the Daily Press astutely referred to as "a very talented Holy Cross team" swept the two-game set, beating Juco Joe Knight's alma mater in the opener, then smoking the host Tribe for the tourney title.

In that final last night, HC built a quick 11-1 and extended it to as many as 23 points in the first half. Talk about your kiss of death. There are teams you can come back on. Their are games were falling behind early, at least the 11-1 opening spurt, can easily be overcome, at least enough to get back in the game, especially at home.

Those game, though, are not games against teams that play defense like Holy Cross. Take a look at the box score and you will see what we mean. William and Mary shot 30 percent for the game. In the first half, when this one was decided, they shot 23 percent from the field.

There are not many teams that can shoot under 40 percent from the field and still blow an opponent out. Holy Cross shot 38 percent and won, on the road, by 12.

That explains why, despite some concerns about the Crusaders frontcourt, most folks pick them to challenge Bucknell for the Patriot League title.

Hamilton (18) and Simmons (16) are averaging a combined 38 points a game in two games. Torey Thomas has stepped up his scoring. He had 20 against High Point, 15 against W&M.

Even if Thomas' average drops by half as the season goes on, you are still looking at just under 50 points per game of offense from that trio. The way Holy Cross plays defense, it does not take a whole lot more offense for them to win.

Granted, the two opponents to date were hardly the most challenging the Crusaders will face. William and Mary does have 10 guys back from last season, including four starters, last season's top two scorers, 76 percent of its scoring and 83 percent of its rebounding.

But William and Mary is not the cream of the Colonial Athletic Association. Matter of fact, they are picked to finish last.

Cupcakes? Yeah, probably. Certainly not Providence or Kansas, teams Willard has opened against in three of his six seasons at HC. But it makes a lot of sense to start this year's Crusaders on some soft food.

With only six players back who contributed last season, Willard knew when he was scheduling that for HC to live up to the potential that comes with a backcourt like the Crusaders have, they are going to need a couple freshmen in the rotation.

Makes perfect sense to start the season with some games that might allow those young players to see some minutes and gain some confidence. Seems doubly wise now with one of those freshmen, Alex Vander Baan, having claimed what everybody expected to be Tim Clifford's spot in the starting lineup.

Vander Baan had mixed results in his first two collegiate games. His debut was sparkling: 11 points, 6 rebounds in 34 minutes. His second game was less impressive. Vander Baan fouled out against W&M, playing only 14 minutes (4 pts, 2 reb.).

The second freshman in what has been essentially an eight-man rotation for Willard is Lawrence Dixon. Dixon played eight minutes Friday, scoring 4 points. Interestingly, when Vander Baan was sitting with foul trouble Saturday, it appears to have been Dixon who picked up the extra minutes, not Clifford.

Dixon's time increased to 19 minutes Saturday (6 pt., 4 reb., 4 fouls), while Clifford actually played 3 minutes less. That despite what, at least on paper, looked to be a Big Purple Dog kind of night Friday, when Clifford made the most of his 19 minutes, grabbing 9 rebounds and blocking 3 shots.

Against W&M, Clifford played only 16 minutes, finishing with 4 rebounds. It would be silly to read too much into two boxscores, especially without having seen him play, but you have to wonder if those lines are evident of Clifford's lack of consistency Willard talked about in the preseason.

It would appear that Willard has settled on an eight-man rotation. Clifford, Dixon and Pat Doherty claimed virtually all the time off the bench in both games. It appears that freshmen Greg McCarthy and Colin Cunningham are not yet ready for prime time. Cunningham never left the bench. McCarthy played less than a minute against W&M after sitting the opener completely. Sophomore guard Kyle Cruze played a minutes against High Point.

Given the wide margin the Crusaders held much of the game against William & Mary, you'd figure if Ralph was planning on using any of those three much down the road, they'd have at least broke a sweat.

Two other things we like about Willard's scheduling the W&M tournament to open the season. It gives HC a chance to play on back-to-back days, something they will have to do in a few weeks in San Juan and something they hope to do at the end of the regular season.

The two-game tournament also makes for a 33 percent longer getaway as a team at the start of the season. Coaches will tell you that a lot of team-building and bonding happens on the road. The extra day away from Worcester can't hurt, especially when you are trying to groom newcomers to play important roles.

READING THE TEA LEAVES:
Seem's like everyone I ran into at the Holy Cross-Bucknell football game Saturday wanted to know the same thing: what did Bucknell's 56-54 escape at Rider on Friday night mean.

Is Rider that good? Is Bucknell overrated? What happened? How could it be so?

Here are some of the answers (as best we can speculate from one game in what is expected to be at least a 30-game season):

Is Rider that good? Too soon to tell, but probably not. They have two outstanding players in Muniz and Thompson, but they are playing a lot of youngsters. Away from Alumni Gym, that will probably take a toll.

So if your question is how much will this win help Bucknell, say at seeding time, it probably will be about neutral. Odds are Rider will be respectable, with double digit wins, maybe even a few games over .500 if they stay healthy and get some breaks. Expect Rider, at the end of the year, to be middle of the RPI pack, not high enough to give you a boost, not low enough to hurt you the way Army does.

Next season, or the season after that? Our guess would be the Broncs' break through and get that NCAA bid that has eluded them twice in the past four seasons when they won the regular season but lost in the league tournament.

While Rider's youth might make it tough to win enough on the rode to contend for the MAAC title this season, the Bronc's Zoo will not be a friendly place for MAAC foes to visit. It would be no surprise if a loss at Rider costs somebody the regular season title.

Rider always wins at home. Or almost. The loss to Bucknell was its first home opener loss in eight games at Alumni Gym (they did lose a "home" opener a couple years back that was played in nearby Trenton at Sovereign Bank Arena -- where a smart scheduler with a little promotional savvy would have put Friday night's sellout). Over the years they have won almost 74 percent of their games at home.

It is a tough place to play, small, loud, the crowd right on the floor. It is sort of like Bucknell's old Davis Gym, minus any sort of architectural charm. Alumni is like one of those metal warehouse buildings you see along the interstate, only smaller and with cement block walls to add a little ambiance. It makes Colgate's Cotterell Court seem luxurious.

Which sort of leads us into the other questions.

Is Bucknell overrated. We don't think so. A close call at a tough place to play like Rider against a very quick, long and athletic team like the Broncs is a negative is like the cup is half-empty version. Except it really does not hold water.

More telling, we think, is how Bucknell won, holding Rider to one field goal in the final six minutes. Knocking down not one, but two three-point range jumpers (Yes, Bettencourt's foot was on the line ... that is why we said "range"), in the final 18 seconds, by two different shooters, too.

Good teams seem to find ways to win, even when they don't play their A game, which Pat Flannery would be quick to tell the Bison did not bring. This team has shown that before, at Yale and Pittsburgh, in home games against Lehigh and Colgate, and, of course, against Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.

Particularly impressive about Bucknell's end game was how they responded when Rider retook the lead on Thompson's free throws with less than 8 seconds to go.

Remember, this came after Bucknell had finally reclaimed the lead on a John Griffin try with 17 seconds left. That seemed to cap a half that started with Bucknell down 5, a lead that seemed elastic. Every time Bucknell pulled close and had a chance to take the lead, Rider seemed to be able to stretch it back out. Up until Griffin's shot, Bucknell had been within 2 points five times in the half and tied three times. On none of those eight opportunities had they managed to go back on top.

Griffin's shot had the makings of a game-winner. But when Thompson managed to gain position down low on McNaughton, and Rider got him the ball, all McNaughton could do was hack Thompson and hope he misses at least one of the two shots. To describe the mood, at least of the Bucknell fans who made up at least a third of the crowd, as anything but deflated would be a lie. Not exactly a boisterous bunch to begin with, the BU fans were stunned and silent.

Would have been easy for a basketball team to respond the same way. Bucknell did not. Need two miracles to win? No problem.

And how clutch was Bettencourt, who redeemed a subpar night with one smooth jumper?

Here is a question to ponder: You are an opposing coach in Tommy Dempsey's situation at the end of the game Friday night. Except now you know one thing Rider's interim head coach did not know at the time. You now know that Bucknell won't hesitate to give the ball to somebody with the game on the line just because they struggled a little in the game.

Who do you design your defense to stop? Lee -- who can knock down the three or beat you off the dribble? McNaughton -- who, forget this three Friday night, has shown the ability to knock down the 10-12 foot jumper and is unstoppable one-on-one down on the blocks? Griffin? Bettencourt?

There are two other factors worth considering when you look at that close BU-Rider score.

Bucknell's last game was in what is now an NBA arena, on national television in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It's next game will be against a nationally ranked, legendary hoops power, Syracuse, in the cavernous Carrier Dome. And this game is against a MAAC team with a bunch of freshmen. A team, by the way, that you handled pretty easily last season.

Pat Flannery has been around a long time. He knew better than to take Rider lightly, especially at Rider. Extra especially when you are carrying a huge bullseye like Bucknell.

But these are teenagers and 20-somethings. No matter how much Flannery told them. No matter how often they repeated the mantra. It would be ridiculous to pretend that at least some of the Bison at least subconsciously took the Broncs at least a little lightly.

Add to the equation the fatal traffic crash that closed the route Bucknell's bus was taking from its hotel in Princeton to the gym in Lawrence. The Bison arrived at Alumni shortly before the scheduled 8 p.m. tip off.

As they walked through an already crowded gym to reach their locker rooms, the Bison players looked as casual as any team walking into the gym. They were a loose, smiling, headphone wearing bunch. Which is the mood you want the team in getting off the bus an hour or two before the game, but hardly the game face you want a half-hour before the tip.

Did that hurt Bucknell's focus in the first half? Nobody would admit it after the game, but hear on Earth, stuff like that usually is a distraction. And it didn't help the Bison's mindset any when early foul trouble forced them out of their rotation.

Whatever the reason, Bucknell was never in synch the first half. That allowed Rider to stay with them early, and when the Broncs closed the half with a 5-0 spurt to take the lead, they went to the locker room brimming with confidence.

Come out fast and take the crowd out of it early, you put a young team like Rider away. Let them, and the crowd, stay in the game, and Riders energy level goes way up.

That last question: How could it be so? That question shows a lack of knowledge of the history here. Someone who knows Bucknell only by the wins over St. Joe's, Pitt and Kansas might not realize that ugly, low-scoring wins are not at all out of character for Pat Flannery teams.

Bucknell wins games with defense and hard work. This one was no exception. By the end of the game, the Bison had worn Rider down. That is Flannery's style to a large extent.

Despite his preseason rhetoric about full four pressure and running the break more, there was none of either in the Rider game. The Bison showed some token man-to-man pressure late, and did pick it up pretty aggressively near midcourt late in the game, but there was no fullcourt trapping stuff like Flannery had spoke of. Neither team scored a fastbreak point.

Sure, Bucknell will have some games this season where they blow somebody out. But the real quality wins will more likely come in typical Flannery style. It might be ugly on the court, but it tends to look pretty fashionable in the wins column.
Read more!